W4: The Power Without
by nth
Summary: New Ending Chapter 13: Back in the hospital, the Madisons let their aunt Paige know how they feel: Are they ready to be the Charmed Ones? Pls R&R!
1. The Power Without

Yay. Haven't made a story for a while. I didn't like the last one I put out (Before There Were Four) so I decided to redo it another time and do this instead. It continues the lives of Piper's children as Charmed Ones. Some notes below. Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Charmed. Yeah. Only the things and people that are not from Charmed and are in this story are owned by me. Yeah.  
  
Notes: Changed Pure's name to Pru; real name's still Purity though. Changed Zan to Xan. And Julia's 15 now, though it doesn't really matter. At least in this story anyway. Check out my first story (We Witches Four) to know the deal with this foursome. Basically they are:  
  
Purity (Pru), 23 yrs old, can transmogrify objects -  
  
Andrew (Drew), 17, telepath (but that will change, as you will see), Xan's twin -  
  
Alexander (Xan), 17, can create magical barriers -  
  
Julia Madison, 15, blasts electricity -  
  
BTW, words enclosed in asterisks (*blah*) are italicized. I don't get the whole html thing, so bear with me. So, well, I'm sure you know what italics are for in fiction.  
  
~~***~~~***~~***~~~***  
  
THE POWER WITHOUT ~~***~~~***~~***~~~***  
  
"Get out!"  
  
Julia's yell boomed through the walls of the Halliwell Manor as she chased a laughing Drew down the staircase.  
  
"Getoutgetoutgetout!"  
  
Xan ran out the kitchen to see what was going on, only to be greeted by the whack of a rolled-up newspaper on his cheek as Drew whizzed by.  
  
"Ow! Jules! What's your problem?!" whined Xan, holding his wounded face  
  
Jules, unmindful of her brother's question, charged through into the dining room, where Drew stood on the opposite end of the dining table. Mocking his younger sister, Drew shifted from left to right as Julia raised the paper, about to throw it.  
  
"What is going on here?"  
  
Newspaper flew and connected with nothing but air, as it unraveled and fell right flat on top on Purity Madison's head. Julia fumed in frustration as the more mischievous twin ran out the back door.  
  
"Ohhkay. And may I say again: *what* is going on here?" inquired Pru, taking the paper off her head and cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"He was in my head *again*," muttered Julia as she exited the kitchen and retreated to her room. The four siblings were just beginning to get into their powers, having realized their Charmed Ones status just two days before. Drew was obviously diving headfirst into his telepathy, using it every chance he got. Lately, it had become an annoyance in the Halliwell- Madison family as Pru, Xan and Julia could all sense Drew rummaging through the recesses of their brains. Unfortunately for Julia, Drew found her thoughts the most interesting and she was more victimized than the eldest sister, Pru, and Xan, the more considerate brother.  
  
"We do have to get him under control, come to think of it. Who knows what permanent damage his power can do to our heads," Pru murmured, settling on the kitchen stool.  
  
"But you have to admit, our powers are pretty cool," countered Xan as he searched the fridge for his breakfast. 


	2. Pru

"Well, yeah. But I don't think we should use them that much..." Pru's thoughts faded away as she listlessly twirled her spoon in the cereal. She was lying actually - she used her powers whenever necessary, and that was almost every day. Using her power to transform matter into different objects was almost impossible to resist. A lot of times Pru found herself transmogrifying whisks into spatulas when she was cooking and pencils to erasers when she was writing, without even thinking. It had become a habit, and a bad one at that - she almost used it when she had gone to the bank the day before. It would be hard to explain how her wallet could change to a pen or why white orbs appeared with the change, something Pru hadn't figured out herself. She had only learned from her hospital-bound Aunt Paige, who was also a half-witch half-whitelighter, that the globules usually were signs of orbing, the whitelighter method of travel. Could she "orb" the objects somewhere and replace them with something else? That she had yet to find out.  
  
*I do feel a little guilty*, thought Pru, reflecting on her power abuse. She was sure Xan and Julia didn't use their powers as much as she or Drew did. Xan's power to create walls of solid, silver energy and Julia's ability to blast lightning bolts were very effective against the evils they encountered; however, they were nearly useless in their day-to-day living. Unless Xan wanted to block his twin from entering their room or Julia felt the need to short out a light bulb. The latter happened only yesterday, with Julia gushing in embarrassment. Seemed Julia couldn't control electronics after all.  
  
Pru was jerked from her thoughts with a rustling from the refrigerator. While Xan had been busy with his waffles, Drew had snuck in and was looking for his own morning munchies.  
  
"Drew," called Pru.  
  
"Hmm?" answered Drew, his head still hidden by the refrigerator door.  
  
"Don't you think maybe you should take it easy on your powers? You've, like, been using it non-stop for the past three days."  
  
"It's not like we're gonna lose them," he huffed.  
  
"From overuse? How would you know?"  
  
"Asked Aunt Paige."  
  
"... Oh." 


	3. Groceries

"Yeah." Drew, juggling an apple, finally came into view as he closed the fridge. "Besides, it's not like I'm going into any demons' brains anytime soon. There's not a lot else I can do with my power, you know."  
  
"Just don't push Julia's buttons. 'Kay?"  
  
"Got it." Drew left the kitchen, taking a glass of juice with him.  
  
A frown of worry formed on her face as Pru turned to see Xan looking at her intently. "Think he'll do it?"  
  
Xan shook his head, a smirk forming on his face. "Not a chance."  
  
A few hours later, Drew and Julia were pushing a cart across the slick white floor of the grocery store, gathering food and other household needs. The steel wheels rattled along as the twosome browsed the aisles for the items listed by Pru on a piece of paper in Julia's hand.  
  
"Aren't we overdoing the groceries a little bit?" asked Drew as he paced the food-laden corridors of Walter's.  
  
Julia rolled her eyes and said, "We wouldn't *be* here if you weren't eating just about *everything*."  
  
Replying with a shrug, Drew hopped to the rows of small boxes lined on the shelf, his baggy camouflage pants and white shirt flapping as he went. "Pop tarts."  
  
Wearing a look of exasperation, Julia looked at her brother and then at the list. "Pop tarts. Not on the list."  
  
Drew jumped, shooting the box into the cart like a basketball. "Who cares what Pru thinks anyway."  
  
The youngest Madison groaned and proceeded down the aisle, leaving his brother with his Pop Tarts. "Hey!" Drew yelled, as he followed his sister, the clacking of her sandals fading away in the distance.  
  
"What's bothering you J?" he asked when he caught up with his younger sister. Instantly his eyes began to glimmer, shining tinges of bright purple. Julia pushed her brother away, fully knowing that he was trying to invade her mind.  
  
"Drew!" 


	4. Meet the Demon

Drew's mind expanded, touching each and every mind in the grocery store. In the beginning Drew had found the feeling unsettling. Even if he wanted to "tune into" the thoughts of only one person, his telepathic ability had to balloon to include the minds of everyone in his area. The slight purple tint of his eyes and the sharp, sudden intake of breath were easy enough to hide, but the uneasiness was sometimes almost too much to mask, with thoughts of infinite variety - pictures, voices, words - filling his head. Drew had thought that by the third day he would have been able to get over the feeling he got when he entered other people's private worlds but clearly it was not happening.  
  
Drew continued to scan the myriad of psyches for his sister's, when he noticed one which stood out like a bright beacon in the dark sea of mental identities. Slowly he walked through the store, his eyes losing focus as his own brain set to work on following the trail of that unique mind.  
  
*... where to put this power? Maybe that cashier? Or the boy I saw near the cereal boxes?...*  
  
"Drew?" Julia watched her brother as he stumbled through the grocery alley, narrowly missing a pyramid of stacked cat food cans. She could see that he was lost in thought. But in whose thought, she did not know. "Where are you going?" He continued to walk down the smooth white tiles, somehow drawn to... whom?  
  
The youngest Madison sister, curious, began to follow her mesmerized older brother. It didn't take long though as Drew, without his eyes looking at where he was going, tripped over a basket of assorted fruit. Drew grunted as he lost his concentration and fell to the ground, hitting his chin on the hard floor.  
  
"Ow."  
  
Julia stood over her fallen bro, wearing a smug smile. "Hurt much? What happened?"  
  
"Demon," Drew whispered, pointing down the dairy aisle.  
  
"Shh!" said Julia as she quickly looked around to see if anyone had overheard them. Luckily after the little commotion brought by Drew's fall, everyone else had gone back to whatever they were doing; save the teenage clerk who was swiftly approaching.  
  
"Excuse me sir, but would you please get off our fruit?" he barked at Drew, who quickly picked himself off the floor. The acne-stricken teenager began to methodically put back the display as Julia led Drew and their shopping cart away from the mess.  
  
"Okay," Drew said carefully as they stopped across the shelves of milk cartons, "I was using my power and I... well, *heard* someone say something about finding someone else to put some power in."  
  
"Ohh..." Julia nodded in mock agreement. "Come again?"  
  
"Whatever it was I heard, it was not normal human thoughts, and it definitely came from that guy," explained Drew, directing Julia's gaze to the man clad in black, quickly coming their way.  
  
"S**t. Let's go."  
  
"What? But we haven't even finished the grocer-" Drew grabbed Julia in midsentence, dragging her to the store exit. "Hey!"  
  
The two rushed outside the mall complex, where their aunt's ancient green beetle sat waiting in the parking lot. Drew anxiously kept looking back, only to see his demon hot on their trail. Drew broke into a run with Julia by his side, doing her best to keep up. Upon reaching their ride, Drew frantically glanced around, looking for their pursuer.  
  
"Keys!" he yelled at his sister, who was fumbling around her pockets. "Quick!"  
  
"Wait!" she screamed in reply. A smile of triumph broke on her sweat- ridden face, as she fished the car keys out her pocket.  
  
Drew swiped them from her palm, opened the car door and jumped in, Julia following suit. "Where is he?"  
  
"Who the hell are you talking about?"  
  
The beetle jumped to life and as Drew rolled the car out of the slot, he opened his mind in search of the unseen demon. His intentions were lost in the cacophony of words, seemingly endless, presenting themselves from all directions.  
Drew sorted through them, the thoughts of the enemy hidden beneath the voices of others. Latching onto the faint mental blip, he continued down the driveway, the voice growing stronger and stronger until- *I've been waiting a long time for your kind to come along*  
A shiver rolled down Drew's spine. He knew what Drew was doing.  
  
"Drew!"  
Instinctively Drew slammed his foot on the brakes, the beetle slowing down inches from a telephone post.  
"Second time this week. Wow," deadpanned Julia. She blew her hair away from her eyes, looking at her brother intently. "Um, Drew, what exactly are we running from?"  
  
"Him." Drew stared on, with Julia following his gaze. The demon who had been chasing them just a few minutes ago stood before them, beside the post they nearly crashed into.  
A smile broke across his face, a faint light beginning to build between his eyes. Drew took in a sharp breath as the light exploded, coming towards them in a beam of white energy.  
They ducked, but not before the energy exploded in a wave of shimmering white, washing over him. Drew's head began to pound, lightheadedness took over as Drew struggled to make sense of what had just happened to him.  
He rose from the seat, as the purple-blobbed aftershock faded from his vision. Staring outside the windshield he found nothing, no one. Julia, clearly confused about what was going on, opened her eyes and looked at him strangely when his eyelids began to flutter.  
"Drew?" a voice tittered as Julia's face began to melt with the background. 


	5. In the Attic

"You okay?"  
  
Drew nodded, taking the glass of water from Pru's hand. She sat on the dust- crusted couch opposite Drew's office chair. The flapping of pages filled the silence of the musty attic, with Xan heading the search in the Book of Shadows. Julia stood beside him, anxiously examining the tome's text.  
  
"This book *so* needs pictures," remarked Julia, her brow furrowing in frustration. They had been there in the attic for a time now, after a frenetic Julia and an unconscious Drew had been rescued by Pru and Xan. Fortunately for Drew, the demon mojo seemed to have no other effects aside from his lingering headache.  
  
"There are pictures. Just not a lot of 'em," Xan responded, followed by more pages turning. Six minutes on the book and they had still not been able to discover the identity of their attacker. Xan had hoped that his earlier study of the text would help them out, but it seemed that his efforts were in vain.  
  
Pru's face broke out in a frown of puzzlement, as she began with a question. "I don't get how Drew saw the demon but Julia couldn't."  
  
Julia sighed, crimping the pages of the book from annoyance. "I told you, it was all a blur."  
  
A beat rolled by when Pru said flatly, "He was that fast?"  
  
"Noo... I mean, I would look at what Drew said was supposedly chasing us, and everything was all fuzzy. That's why I couldn't see the black tuxedoed-demon."  
"No demons in black tuxedos in the book," Xan muttered, as he left the book to his younger sister and settled down on a tattered couch with stuffing spilling out of broken seams.  
  
"It was a *suit*," Drew emphasized, "not a tuxedo. They weren't spies, you know." He quickly stood up, heading towards the book. A biting pain ran down the back of his head; Drew gritted his teeth, stifling an oncoming whine of suffering. "Ah!"  
  
"Whoa, down boy." Pru guided her brother back to his seat, which Drew took gratefully. "This is the first attack we've had from real, live demons. We don't exactly know what we're dealing with, but it looks like you have to just sit down. Let *us* handle this," Pru said sternly.  
  
Drew huffed, sending daggers at his older sister. In return, Pru gave him a knowing smile, sending Drew to pout on the tattered couch.  
  
"Know what?" Xan spoke. "I will never get over you being so... motherly and protective. To us. When we're *eighteen*."  
  
"Better believe it," Pru said, making her way to the book. "Found anything?" she asked Julia.  
  
"Yeah, what about this?"  
  
"Power brokers?"  
  
"'Demons who capitalize more on business than on death and destruction, they engage in trade and demonic auctions for "power balls", gathered from fallen witches' and warlocks' powers. To keep the powers from thieves, they find human beings and store their powers in them. Human beings possessed of a demonic power will become confused then frightened, paranoid, violent and demonic, will ultimately die if the power isn't withdrawn.'"  
  
"The hell?!" Drew stood up, yelling and temporarily overcoming his migraine.  
  
"Okay, let's just stay calm-" said Pru.  
  
"You stay calm! You're not the one with the 'demonic power!'"  
  
Pru stood straight, tall and imposing, her steely eyes studying her brother's hot behavior.  
  
"Are you confused?" she asked.  
  
"No," Drew answered quietly, cocking an eyebrow. His puzzlement then gave way to understanding, his temper beginning to cool off.  
  
"Frightened?" Pru continued.  
  
Drew shook his head. He drew in a deep breath and let out a long sigh, a sign that he had accepted his sister's control.  
  
"Paranoid? Violent? *Demonic*?"  
  
Drew shook his head. "No."  
  
"Then all is not lost," she spoke simply. She turned to Julia, who was back to rifling the book. "Hey, anything about a cure for the demonic power?"  
  
"Nada." Julia kept her right pinky on the page where they found the power brokers, her left hand turned the yellowed pages underneath. "Only one page for power brokers."  
  
She looked up from the book and at her siblings. "What do we do?"  
  
"I know what," suggested Drew, getting up from his seat and shuffled to the attic door, "I am going to my room and sleep the rest of the day off. You do... whatever."  
  
Xan and his sisters watched Drew exit the attic, their situation not having improved during the last hour. "At least we found who - what - did this. Now we just have to figure out how to beat it."  
  
"I hate to admit it," began Julia, "but I'm really scared. For Drew. And us. What if we can't help him?"  
  
Pru crossed her arms, looking at her siblings with disbelief. "I don't know about you guys, but I am not about to lose my younger brother to something I stopped believing in when I was seven." She strode to the Book of Shadows, scanning the spread of pages before her. "There has to be something here that can help."  
  
"There's one option we haven't considered," offered Xan.  
  
Julia and Pru met their brother's gaze. "What's that?" the younger sister asked.  
  
"Ask Aunt Paige." 


	6. The Fried Mind

No one would have thought that the late Phoebe Halliwell used to live in the room which Drew and Xan now claimed as their own. Upon entering, cardboard boxes from the moving-in a few days ago would be seen stacked against the chest of drawers, a lot of their contents still unpacked. On the right, used shirts, soiled jeans and other undesirables were draped over an antique cream-colored lounger. Further down, a recess in the room held the bay window from which most of the outside light streamed in. A wooden desk sat in front of that window, giving the occupant a view of the house next door. Where a grand queen-sized bed used to be there were now two single beds, a couple of feet away from each other.  
  
On one of them lay Drew, his thick auburn hair catching the afternoon light as he massaged his temples. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the hot water bottle on the bedside table beside him. He pressed it to his forehead, welcoming the warmth and temporary relief it brought to his headache.  
  
It was then he remembered his mom. It was always either ginger or chamomile tea for a headache. Until she found out that chamomile didn't really help with the allergies, and so ginger it would always be. Along with a hot water bottle, peace and quiet.  
  
"Hey."  
  
Drew jumped, gritting his teeth as his nerves were rattled by the abrupt intrusion of his solitude. He sat up on the ruffled and maroon- sheeted bed, narrowing his eyes in the afternoon light as he looked at his brother in irritation.  
  
"What in *God's name* do you want?"  
  
As he rummaged through shelves of shirts, Xan cast a sidelong glance at his twin. It was rare to see Drew, dauntless, athletic girl-charmer, in his present state of illness and vulnerability. But, Xan reasoned, he was reckless in using his powers, something they knew all too little about. It was *his* fault after all. Drew could be a jerk sometimes; however, it was his life on the line, and his twin couldn't help but feel sorry for him.  
  
"We're going to the hospital. See Aunt Paige."  
  
"Now?!" Drew exclaimed, his voice teetering on the edge of hysterics.  
  
"She'll help you get the demon mojo out your system. C'mon," assured Xan, throwing his brother a clean top. "Pru and Julia are probably waiting for us right now."  
  
"Waitamin-" Drew took in a sharp breath as another migraine rocked his skull. His eyes burned as the world spun around him. He fell to his knees, clutching his head, willing the pain away.  
  
"Hey. You okay?"  
  
Drew looked up at his twin, whose outstretched hand offered help. For a moment their eyes met.  
  
"Aah!" Xan let out a scream as the sudden pain shot through his nerves. Silence, as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he collapsed facedown on the bedroom rug.  
  
Drew stared at the still form before him. His lips trembled and his breath came, short and heavy. He heard himself utter, barely a whisper:  
  
"Xan?" 


	7. Someone at the Door

Pru sat in one of the parlor's armchairs, minding the time by her watch. She looked at her sister beside her, who lounged on the sofa while staring at the ceiling. Pru then glanced at the grandfather clock in the hall and she let out an anxious growl.  
  
"What's taking them so long?" she grumbled loudly, looking to Julia for a response. She promptly replied with a clueless shrug, and went back to divining the source of the faded yet quite visible water patches on the ceiling.  
  
"Guys!"  
  
Pru jumped from her seat, scampering to the hall, where a sweaty, noticeably harried Drew stood on the landing. Julia had loped beside her, answering her brother's distress call.  
  
"It's Xan. He's out cold," Drew uttered between deep breaths.  
  
"What? What happened?" cried Julia.  
  
Drew took his sisters' hands and began to take them upstairs, when the doorbell rang, giving way to the sound of the front door breaking off of its hinges and dropping to the floor in a cloud of dust and splinters.  
  
"Hello. I've been looking all over for you," deadpanned the well-dressed demon at the manor entrance.  
  
Instinctively Julia drew out her right hand, a bolt of lightning erupting from her palm. It struck the doorframe, missing the demon by inches, who was none too fazed by the attack.  
  
"Impressive," he stated simply, as a sphere of light built between his eyes and burst in a flash in the hall, blinding its occupants. Immobilized by the attack, the three were thrown into the air, a tossed light ball exploding between them.  
  
Julia flew onto the wall with a scream, narrowly missing the grandfather clock and fell slumped on the floor. Pru sailed through to the parlor, where a loveseat cushioned her descent. Drew followed suit in the dining room, as he smashed a chair and lost consciousness upon falling.  
  
The demon stood silently for a moment, admiring his handiwork, before he strode to an unconscious Drew. Grabbing him by the back of his shirt, the power broker began to shimmer. Pru watched in awe and horror as the demon, with his brother, faded away into nothingness. Soon there was no sign that an evil had broken into their home, save for the broken-down door and the two fallen witches. She lay at the floor rug, her breath being the only thing she heard, her tears riding down her cheeks.  
  
A loud shuffling broke the silence, as Xan descended from the staircase. He held his head in pain, as he yelled out, "I don't know what the hell that demon did to Drew, but it sure gave him one helluva power..."  
  
Xan landed on the stairs' footing, his last words trailing off into the manor. The disarrayed state of his surroundings settled in as he stared at Julia, unconscious beside the wall, and Pru, lying in the parlor with a sprained ankle.  
  
"Pru?"  
  
His sister looked at him, defeat in her eyes. 


	8. Aunt Paige

In the drab mint-green hospital room, a sullen Xan and injured Pru sat on matching mint-green chairs as their bedridden aunt offered a look of mixed sympathy and hope.  
  
"Don't worry," Paige said softly, "we'll get your brother back. I've gone through this before."  
  
Her nephew and niece looked back at her solemnly with doubt in their faces just as the door swung open to reveal Julia, who gave her siblings a small smile to show that she was okay. Following the demon break-in, Xan and Pru were able to revive their younger sister. Though she seemed to be fine, they had opted to have her checked by a doctor anyway, since they were headed to the hospital to have Pru's ankle treated and to ask their aunt for help. Thinking that their aunt would need the Book of Shadows, they apprehensively lugged it along with them.  
  
"Are you all right?" Pru asked, standing up and limping to guide her sister to her seat.  
  
"Yes. Don't worry 'bout me," assured Julia as she sat on the cushioned wooden bench, a can of soda in her hands. She leaned her head discreetly on the wall behind her; actually she was still a little woozy from the incident, though she'd rather not have her family make a fuss. She took a sip of her drink before saying, "We should worry about Drew."  
  
"Good thing you brought the book. Haven't seen it in ages," remarked Paige. She began to struggle in her bed and she called out to her visitors, "Hey, can you help me with this thing? I swear when I get out of here I won't lie down on a bed for a week."  
  
The three Madisons helped their aunt Paige up, bringing their chairs around her and laying the book on her lap. Paige brought the book up to her nose with both hands, taking a lungful of its musty fragrance before settling it back on her lap. "Haven't touched it in ages," she whispered to herself.  
  
Paige flipped through the pages of the old tome, fully knowing what she was looking for. "I have to tell you the truth though," she explained, biting her lip in hesitation, "I don't really know how we beat the power brokers, you know, me being the victim and all."  
  
She finally stopped on a page with only beautiful calligraphy and colorful art adorning the ancient paper. Pru craned her neck, sneaking a glance at the title of the spell Paige had found.  
  
"A power switching spell?" Pru asked, letting her eyes run over the incantation.  
  
"See, there's no way for you to get to hell or wherever power brokers live. Unless we find a demon who can take us there, then we'd have to make a crystal cage, go through the question-and-torture process... That'd be messy. *So*, I'll switch powers with one of you, and then you could use my orbing to get to Drew."  
  
"And we don't need ingredients or anything. Cool," Julia remarked.  
  
Paige nodded and continued, "You bring him back, we take care of the broker, somehow, back here."  
  
"Okay then, let's go," Xan said eagerly.  
  
At that note, Paige looked among the faces of her family before asking, "Who should I switch powers with?"  
  
"Me," Pru exclaimed, raising her hand up willingly. "I have the useless power."  
  
"Don't say that," chided her aunt. "You have an amazing power. Here, give me your hand."  
  
Pru sighed as she offered her hand to Paige, who began to recite the spell.  
  
"What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine  
  
Let our powers cross the line  
  
I offer up my gift to share  
  
Switch our powers through the air." 


	9. Learning How to Orb

A few seconds went by with Paige, Pru, Xan and Julia looking around the room for tell-tale signs of a cast spell. "These things really take time, don't they?" Xan quipped.  
  
"Hm. Let me see..." Paige's eyes settled on the can Julia had brought resting on the coffee table. "Can," called Paige, with the container failing to orb to her. "Guess it worked. You try."  
  
"Ohhkay. Can," said Pru, with the aluminum cylinder disappearing from the table and reappearing in her hands. "Whoa," she exclaimed, dropping the half-empty can.  
  
"Hey! I wasn't done with that," whined Julia, picking it up from the spillage and tossing the now empty can in the bin.  
  
"That's great! But we have to concentrate on orbing yourself," Paige explained. "Go there," she directed, pointing to the other side of the room.  
  
Xan and Julia watched as their sister followed their aunt's instruction. "No what?" asked Pru expectantly as she stood opposite Paige.  
  
"Close your eyes and think of going here beside me."  
  
Shrugging, Pru did as she was told. A moment went by as they watched the eldest Madison's endeavor at orbing. After what seemed like a full minute, Pru opened one eye and seeing that she had not moved at all, opened both, huffed and eyed her aunt suspiciously. "This isn't working."  
  
"Well, it *did* take me more than a day to perfect my orbing," Paige noted, "but technically since you have my power and since I already learned how to orb, you should know how to orb too. You just have to... relearn it. Maybe if someone scared you-"  
  
"*Scared* me?" snapped Pru, when the door suddenly opened and, in a loud gasp and swirling blue-white lights, she disappeared into thin air.  
  
"Everything all right?" asked the redheaded nurse who peeked through the door.  
  
"Yeah-everything's-all-right-bye," rushed Julia as she pushed the nurse out back into the hall and closed the room door. "Whew."  
  
"Where'd she go?" queried Xan just as the blue-white lights began to appear and gather beside his aunt's hospital bed.  
  
"Wow" was Pru's first word upon reforming beside her Aunt Paige. Taking a deep breath she gave her aunt a wide grin. "Wow."  
  
"'Wow' yourself," chirped Paige, returning the smile with her own. "Hey, we don't have a lot of time, so this is what you do. You know how to orb yourself, but you have to orb Xan and Julia with you when you got to Drew. When you're there, find a way to distract the demons-"  
  
"Wait, *demons*?" Xan cut in. "There's more than one?!"  
  
"Uh, we're not completely sure. I mean, there could just be two or maybeee... five? I don't know, but-"  
  
"Five?!"  
  
"Listen, when you distract the demons, set Drew free and orb back here, I'd have written a spell to vanquish whatever evil comes back here. Thing is, you have to do this right here, right now. So Xan, Julia, hold your sister's hands. And the three of you concentrate on going to where your brother is."  
  
The three Madison siblings followed their aunt's words. With hopes high and fingers interlaced, they brought to their minds the thought of saving their brother. Paige heart ached for her nieces and nephews as she watched their shapes began to dissipate into periwinkle orbs.  
  
"Good luck," she called out, knowing that her voice would fall on dematerialized ears.  
  
The door to Paige's hospital room was again pushed ajar, as the same copper- haired nurse poked her head through. "Are you sure everything's okay?" she asked, before her eyes widened and her brow creased upon noticing the near- emptiness of the room and catching Paige's smile and shrug. 


	10. Taken

Yay! THREE reviews! Hahaha... Thanks you guys! Now on to the story-  
  
******~~~~~*****~~~~~  
  
"Aaaagh!"  
  
Drew's scream thundered through the dank cavern of the power brokers' lair. He struggled to pull the chains which bound him to the wall, as the power broker named Kii watched before him in amusement.  
  
"Those bonds weren't made to be broken. Just admit to yourself that you're gone for, and I'll make sure you get a quick death."  
  
"They're going to kick your-"  
  
"Your little family doesn't scare me. I've faced worse from the likes of you."  
  
Drew screamed a second time in frustration. Suddenly it occurred to him. Staring blankly on the marble floor, his eyes began to glow, a sign of his working telepathy.  
  
"Hey,"yelled Kii, throwing a small rock at Drew's head, which snapped back up to face him. "Stop that. It won't work anyway, since it's already changing. Besides that, witches' powers are useless here."  
  
The demon walked up to the Madison witch, waving a hand over him. Drew cried out in pain, as Kii's hand glowed a bright blue.  
  
"Your newfound ability hasn't finished forming yet."  
  
"What the hell are you doing to me?"  
  
"Didn't you know? And I thought you witches, with your little books, knew everything. I'm altering your power. Giving it a little kick. And when it's over, I'll just extract it from you. Of course you're going to die from the procedure, but that's just the beauty of it all.  
  
"You see, finding a witch with your capabilities is like finding a gold mine. Witches are getting stronger and demons are looking for better ways to knock them down. Which is why you are here. Powers just don't go 'poof' and appear.  
  
"I'm looking at your face, and I'm thinking you don't have a freakin' clue what I'm talking about. You're a neophyte, aren't you?"  
  
Glaring at the demon, Drew pressed his lips tight.  
  
"Might as well have a little conversation before you go *kkk*," said Kii, sliding his finger across his neck. "I'm sure you are. And living in the Halliwell house, no less. Pretty sure you know who *they* are, don't you?"  
  
Drew looked away, shutting Kii out.  
  
"Ah, the Halliwell sisters. The *Charmed* Ones. Not so charmed now, eh? Dead as doorknobs. *Big* victory for demonkind-"  
  
"You're wrong."  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"One of them is alive."  
  
"Now, now. Don't be a liar, witch," the demon reproached. "And even if there's a survivor, it won't make much of a difference without three of them. Nevertheless... One of the most powerful who ever lived, still alive. How do you know?"  
  
Silence.  
  
In anger Kii strode up to his captive, grabbing him by the neck. "We have ways of making people like you talk. I can prolong your agony as much as I want to. If you did your *homework*, you'd know that."  
  
After Kii dropped Drew, he returned to the boulder which served as his chair. "I'm not surprised though. Even I was a witch once, twenty, thirty years ago." Kii looked to Drew for a reaction. "Hard to believe I was actually human. When my folks unbound my powers – What was I, thirteen? Can't even remember what my powers were. Anyway, I was so excited to use them they almost wanted to bind me again. You see – wait –"  
  
The demon held up his palm to Drew. The young Madison gritted his teeth, stifling a howl of pain as Kii measured the augmented power's growth. Satisfied at seeing his palm glow bluish-white, he continued.  
  
"You see, I knew what was the most important part of being a witch. Power. While my parents were busy trying to save the weak, I was cultivating my magic. It was pretty easy, really. That much I remember – my power could kill. And so I got my parents' magic, and then their friends' magic and I was pretty much unstoppable. Then some witches got the better of me and I went straight here.  
  
"Not that bad really. Got one of the better jobs. I get the respect I deserve, from low and high level demons alike. And I still get to do the things I enjoyed when I was a human. I'm planning on growing out of that though..."  
  
Kii broke out of his daze following his story and turned to his prisoner. "So after that long speech, what about you, huh? What's your story?" 


	11. To the Rescue

"Guess it's pretty obvious what your story is. Neophyte witch, too wound up to use his power carefully, goes around town to show off and gets kidnapped by a power broker. Power broker gets his magic, witch dies in the process. Kid, even I wasn't this dumb. And you're what, sixteen? Didn't your folks teach you anything?"  
  
"They didn't," replied Drew finally, closing and dropping his eyes. "Our mother died before we became... what we are."  
  
"Well, that's life," commented Kii indifferently, "or death. Speaking of which, ready to die now?"  
  
"No," shouted Pru firmly, upon orbing into the scene. "Julia, now."  
  
The youngest Madison witch nodded at the command, and directed her hand toward the demon. But instead of the blast of electricity they expected, solid white energy began to emanate from her palm at snail's pace.  
  
"What the-"  
  
"I have no time for this," muttered Kii as he flung an energy ball their way. Xan reacted with a sweep of his arm, sending out a puny fork of lightning. Their attacks collided, resulting in a wave of force which sent the three Madisons sprawling on the ground.  
  
"We really have to get our act together," complained Julia.  
  
"The spell Aunt Paige cast must have screwed with our powers too," Xan realized.  
  
"It doesn't matter!" Kii rolled his eyes in frustration. "Your powers don't work here!"  
  
"He's right," agreed Drew as lines of purple began to taint his pupils. "Fortunately, yours do." He fixed his sight on the enemy, letting loose a thought which drove the demon to double over in pain.  
  
"Quick!" yelled Pru, crossing over to his younger brother with her two other siblings. She tugged at the iron chains binding Drew to the ground. "We have to get these off."  
  
Julia looked at the demon in fear when his ragged form began to rise up from the floor. "There's no time."  
  
"Just orb us all back!" ordered Xan, as he took his twin's hand in his. Pru shut her eyes, concentrating on orbing them all to the earthly plane.  
"No!" Kii bellowed, watching the four Madison witches' bodies beginning to dissolve into light. 


	12. Own Medicine

The Madison quartet collapsed onto the carpet of the manor hall, their bodies reforming from bright blue-white orbs. Harried, yet uninjured, they picked themselves up from the floor, Julia rubbing her elbow to ease her pain from the crash.  
  
"Ow."  
  
"Sorry," mumbled Pru upon standing. She looked at her younger sister crossly, saying, "I was a little nervous you know, with someone trying to kill us."  
  
"Wait, why are we at the house?" asked Xan worriedly.  
  
"Well, I had to think fast, you know. I couldn't take us back to Aunt Paige."  
  
"But that was the plan, wasn't it?" cried Julia in her smarter brother's defense.  
  
"We can't fight the demon in the hospital Julia. Not with everyone else around," explained the eldest irritably.  
  
"We can't fight him here either. Not without the book," Xan countered, crossing his arms with finality.  
  
The fact suddenly dawned on Pru, who reacted with a gasp of fear. "Oh no."  
  
"'Oh no' is right."  
  
"Guys, this isn't getting us anywhere," Drew broke in between short breaths, grabbing his siblings' attention. "*All* our powers are screwed up and we have to get to the book, which is probably with our aunt in the hospital. Right?"  
  
The three solemnly nodded in response. Pru reached for her brothers' and sister's hands when a flash of light erupted from near the front door.  
  
"Uh-uh," said Kii, waving his finger at the blinded witches. "Nobody is going anywhere."  
  
On instinct, Julia pointed at their attacker and immediately the four were covered in a wall of translucent white. "Not again."  
  
The power broker threw an energy ball, and the Madisons orbed, dove and rolled away from the blast. Recovering from the attack, Drew caught his siblings' eyes and yelled, "Attic!"  
  
The foursome scrambled toward the staircase, the demon looking on with a grin. "Idiots," he muttered to himself. "Haven't they gotten it by now"?"he uttered before disappearing in a glimmer of light.  
  
"You can't escape me," declared Kii as he reappeared before the Madisons in the attic center. "Maybe I should just got to your aunt? Wait, *she's* the Charmed One you've been talking about. I'd really want to meet her."  
  
"You talk too much," Xan said, before unleashing a lightning bolt at their foe. The demon crumpled to the ground with a roar, soft smoke wafting from his coat. "Your puny powers can't kill me."  
  
"Yours can," whispered Pru softly, eyeing the enemy intently, the words to a spell forming in her thoughts. "What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine; let our powers cross the line. I offer up my gift to share, switch our powers through the air."  
  
The last words of the incantation echoed in the demon's mind, before he fully realized what had happened. "No!" he cried, wishing to lob an energy ball at the young witch, but finding the action useless. Pru, on the other hand, started to will the spheres of power to appear in her hands. Holding more than enough, she pitched them at the demon mercilessly.  
  
Kii jumped at each globe Pru threw, raw power coursing and growing in him with Pru's assault. He looked at the witches with eyes wide as his body began to tremble, before he exploded in a flare of flames and a cloud of dust.  
  
The four young witches stared in awe at the settling particles of demon residue, letting their vanquish sink in. "Whoa. That... doesn't happen everyday," uttered Xan, intruding upon the moment of quiet.  
  
"I think we'll be seeing a lot more of that from now on," Drew sighed, snapping out of the trance brought upon by the demon's defeat. "Hey, my migraine's gone."  
  
Enlightened by her brother's discovery, Julia willed sparks of electricity to form at her fingertips. "My lightning's back too."  
  
"Do you think Paige's power's- Lamp!"Pru cut her question off to attempt calling for an object in view. When the delicate lamp orbed from a parlor table and into her hands, she gave a shaky smile to the people around her. "I guess vanquishing the demon solved all our problems." 


	13. Ready

"I don't think I'll be reading minds for a while," asserted Drew, his family reacting in a full spectrum of emotions. A _thank God_ look could be clearly seen on Julia's face, while Xan chuckled softly, knowing his twin's definition of 'a while' would be the next five hours. Pru was undecided on whether her brother would stick to his word for a few days… or cave after about five hours. Paige was the only one who opposed her nephew's decision. 

"Don't give up on your power," Paige said. "You just have to be careful. Just don't… telepathize with strangers. Unless you really need to." 

"No, it's okay," replied Drew, "I'm not giving up on my power. I'm just going to take a little break, is all." 

Understanding Drew's shakiness from his experience, Paige nodded. "Okay. It's your choice. I respect that." 

At that note, the Halliwells retreated into their thoughts, an almost tangible silence drifting in as Paige sank back into her hospital bed and as the four Madisons shifted in their own seats. Drew had leaned forward and et his elbows rest on the small coffee table when he suddenly spoke up. 

"He was a witch, you know." 

"What?" asked Xan, puzzled by Drew's outburst. 

"The demon. The power broker. He was a witch once." 

"Oh." 

"How do you know?" Julia said, turning the fact over in her mind. "Did you read his thoughts?" 

"No, he told me. He told me a whole lot of stuff, actually. _Like how our powers don't work in wherever we were._" 

Paige let out a grunt, rolling her eyes. "I said I was sorry!" 

Drew snickered, showing his aunt that there were no hard feelings. "He also said that finding a witch with my powers like mine was like 'finding a gold mine'. He said power was everything. Power's the most important thing. And this is where he gets me, see. I could have been killed by that bastard. But if I could defend myself, if I had more power, I wouldn't have been as helpless as I was." 

"Power isn't everything, Drew," stated Paige, shaking her head dismissively. "I learned that a lot of times. Sometimes, I learned it the hard way." 

"But he's right," Xan said, defending his brother, much to his own surprise. "We even had to switch powers to save him." 

"Guys, that's why it's the Power of Three, not One. It works in three people, or in your case, four. You have each other. That's the most important thing. That's why you have to stick together." 

"You really think we can do this?" Pru eyed her aunt closely, uncertainty floating in her mind. 

"You can. I mean, it's been twenty years and hell, even I don't know what's going on. All we have to do is learn. We'll just have to deal with the changes." 


End file.
